1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for the automatic piercing of slices or layers of meat and/or other alimentary products such as fish, vegetables or various fruits, for the purpose of the manufacture of skewers ready for cooking.
More specifically, although in no way limiting, the invention relates to a piercer capable of utilizing carving and piercing baskets whose lateral walls are, in a known fashion, provided with vertical slots for the passage of one or more cutting blades. The baskets further comprise generally a base plate and a cover provided with rows of vertical holes allowing for the sliding and the guiding of "spikes" constituted by wooden rods or by metallic shafts.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The preparation of skewers still requires a relatively long time, primarily because the problem posed by the piercing of slices of meat or other alimentary product has not been satisfactorily resolved. It has previously been known to effect a pre-perforation of the layers of piled meat with the aid of rigid and pointed solid shafts, but this requires repeated efforts which become rapidly troublesome. Additionally, manually inserted spikes do not always have a tendency to follow exactly the passage opened by the pre-perforation, which then leads to their sectioning during slicing.
In order to attempt to remedy the constraints of the manual and unitary driving in of the spikes, applicant in French Patent Application No. 80/24482 discloses an automatic apparatus comprising one or more pairs of horizontal friction rollers provided with regularly spaced annular grooves, the points of contact of the annular grooves of the pairs of rollers being disposed in alignment with the holes of the lower and upper platforms, respectively, of the carving vat. The rotational driving of the pairs of rollers allows for the insertion of the spikes utilized for the manufacture of skewers, in the direction of the carving basket. Nevertheless, such an apparatus does not give entire satisfaction, because the spikes are not always inserted in a rectilinear manner and it frequently happens that certain of them are deviated and twisted, for example, by contacting cartilagenous pieces that can be found in the slices of meat. Moreover, even with such an apparatus, it is often necessary to effect a pre-perforation of the piled slices of meat.